


Cockblocked

by gayzinspace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Confessions, Falling In Love, Feelings, Gay Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), so many feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 23:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15651423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayzinspace/pseuds/gayzinspace
Summary: Lance thinks Keith is cockblocking him… Or maybe he's cockblocking himself?Or, Lance’s long journey accepting his feelings.





	Cockblocked

**Author's Note:**

> honestly i don't know what i'm doing  
> english is not my first language, btw, so sorry about any dumb mistakes

Keith was so annoying. He managed to disturb Lance without moving a fucking muscle. It was like, his super power. A very lame superpower, to match his very lame personality. 

The worst part is, Lance was actually having a good time. He was surrounded by his friends, had a drink in his hand and a very, _very_ nice alien girl in front of him. It wasn’t always that the paladins had the chance to commemorate their small victories and it was even less frequent that they could do it in the company of such nice species. 

Also, their parties were a lot similar to earth parties. Sure, the music was kinda weird, not to mention the food… but at least they had something that resembled alcohol, just way less potent. Shiro wouldn’t let them drink it otherwise. Still, the warmth that the drink provided was very nice. 

And that was not all. The alien he was talking to was actually pretty cute and was paying attention to him! She would chuckle at every stupid pick up line he used, touch his arm lightly when given the opportunity and even blush a weird but nice tone of yellow on occasion. Lance was very much enjoying the attention. Everything was going great… until Keith got there. 

The red paladin looked annoyed and a little grumpy as he walked up to them to stand beside Pidge. Lance immediately narrowed his eyes, taking in Keith’s expression. What was he mad about this time? They had just won a battle and were finally relaxing for a change. As Lance watched, Pidge leaned in to whisper something in Keith’s ear, whose face got a little pink. Hmm.

“...-ponsibility, yes?” 

Lance turned his head back sharply. Alvina - the alien girl - was staring at him, waiting for an answer. 

Fuck. 

Of course Keith had to show up with his stupid grumpy face and make Lance’s life harder. 

“Uh… I’m sorry, what did you just say? I guess I got distracted by your beauty,” he winked and held back a sigh of relief when she chuckled again. 

Then he saw Keith roll his eyes and mutter something under his breath, followed by Pidge’s snort. Asshole.

“What.” 

Keith blinked slowly, seeming surprised to have caught Lance’s attention. 

“...nothing.” 

“Yeah, right,” Lance said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “So you don’t have the guts to repeat what you said out loud, uh? Nice, Keith.” 

Lance got distracted for a second watching Keith clenching his jaw in annoyance. 

“Whatever,” Keith replied, taking a sip of the drink in his hand. “Not everything is about you, Lance.” 

Lance’s eyes sparkled with anger, watching Keith turn back to talk to Pidge, as if he wasn’t in the middle of a conversation with Lance two seconds ago. 

Alvina cleared her throat. Or, well, that’s what it sounded like at least. 

“Oh, oops, sorry about that,” Lance smiled sheepishly, turning his attention back to her and rubbing the back of his neck. He couldn’t let himself be distracted by Keith like that. “It's just- that guy’s always on my nerves, you know how it is,” he sighed, sending a glare in Keith’s direction.

“...Right.” She seemed confused, looking from Keith to Lance repeatedly. “He… certainly seems to have an effect on you.”

“W-what?” he stuttered, eyes wide and face hot. Lance looked at Keith again, from the corner of his eye, and blushed even more when he saw the other already staring at him with furrowed eyebrows. “That’s not-- He doesn’t! At all! He just annoys me, that’s it! He’s an annoying person!” 

The girl still looked confused, frowning at Lance, as if trying to read him. Keith had his eyebrows raised high, looking unimpressed - which, honestly, wasn’t unusual for him. Pidge was just smirking at Lance, like she knew all his secrets… she probably did. Scary. 

Lance crossed his arms over his chest and absolutely did _not_ pout. Not even a little bit.

“I don’t understand… If you don’t like him, why- oh. Oh…” she trailed off, then something changed in her expression. “It was a pleasure to meet you, blue paladin, but I think I should leave now. Excuse me.” She smiled politely and turned her back to them without giving Lance a chance to answer. 

For a moment, Lance just stood there, completely frozen, feet glued to the ground and jaw wide open. Then he turned back to glare at Keith.

“This is your fault!” he said, pointing an accusing finger in Keith’s direction.

“What? I didn’t even do anything!” Keith complained, but Lance was already turning away to follow Alvina into the crowd of aliens, not even waiting to see the expression on Keith’s face.

Fuck Keith. Fuck Keith and his stupid, annoying face. Everything was going so well! If he hadn’t shown up, everything would still be great. But, nooo. He had to. And now Lance had to find Alvina and fix this mess. He didn’t really understand what had just happened or why she left, but it was definitely Keith’s fault. He knew it.

And why was Lance so sure? Because it had happened before. He couldn’t figure out what exactly Keith was doing, but there was something. It couldn’t be a coincidence that whenever he was having a nice time with a lovely company, Keith would show up and fuck things up. Sometimes, he wouldn’t even say a word. The guy just stood there and suddenly whoever Lance was flirting with would leave, for no apparent reason.

But Lance would clear things up now.

Thankfully, Alvina didn't go far. She had just sat down at a table with other representatives of her species when Lance spotted her. He felt a burst of confidence in his chest as she smiled sweetly at the sight of him.

“Blue paladin. I did not think I would see you again. At least, not tonight.”

Lance frowned a little at that, but kept what he hoped was a charming smile on his face.

“What do you mean? Of course I wouldn’t let the most beautiful girl in this planet go that easily. Not when I don’t know why she’s leaving.”

Alvina grinned politely and raised from her chair, reaching out to touch his shoulder with kindness.

“Your words do flatter me, paladin of Voltron, truly. But if I am not mistaken, your undivided attention already belongs to another.” At that, she gestured to where Keith and Pidge were still visible.

Lance sighed, looking away guiltily. 

“That’s not- I mean, I know I got distracted there for a moment,” he grimaced, “but it was only because Keith was being a jackass! Which, let me tell you, is not news. The guy’s a real pain. But, listen, it won’t happen again. From now on I won’t take my eyes off of you, not even for a second. How ‘bout that?”

He finished his very convincing speech with his eyebrows raised in expectancy and a hopeful smile on his face. She chuckled at him, seeming amused. 

“Well, that would be nice...” Lance smile widened. “But I do not think you are being completely honest with me. Or with yourself, for that matter.” 

Lance felt his face fall. He thought he was doing so well! After all, even though Lance had been kind of an asshole, she was still being super nice to him. Alvina didn’t seem mad, though. She was looking patiently at him, as if expecting something. Lance just couldn’t figure out what. 

“I-I don’t know what you mean,” Lance admitted, eyebrows knitted close together in a frown.

“It was not just a moment,” she explained, gently. “The red paladin was present on your mind during our entire conversation. Even before he appeared next to you, I could see your eyes searching for him in the crowd, always following him, always paying attention.”

Lance opened his mouth to protest, but she continued before he could think of anything to say. 

“At first, I was confused. I did not know why you were so easily drawn by him. I think I understand it now. Our kind are very sensitive to the kind of connection you share with your fellow paladin.” 

His lips parted in shock and Lance stared at her. He could feel his face getting warmer and warmer by the second. For a few seconds, he couldn't do anything but stare. Then, he began babbling.

“C-connection? We don’t- I don’t share a connection with Keith! What kind of connection do you think we share? Doesn’t matter, I’m sure we don’t!” he exclaimed, almost indignantly. “In fact, I don’t share anything with him! He- he's not a sharing kind of guy!”

“Maybe I am mistaken, then.” She sounded amused, trying to control the smile forming on her face. “But maybe you should reflect about what we discussed. It was nice talking to you, Lance. I hope we meet again.” 

As she leaned in to give Lance a gentle peck on the cheek, he just stood there, open-mouthed. Still unmoving and trying to process everything Alvina had said, he watched her walk away. 

It didn’t make sense, right? Nothing she had said made sense. Lance didn’t remember looking for Keith during the party, so it couldn’t be true. Could it? Thinking about it, he could remember meeting Keith’s eyes across the room, once or twice… Okay, maybe more. But that didn’t mean anything. You meet people’s eyes all the time! That just happens, it’s completely natural! And, okay, yeah, maybe it did happen a little more with Keith than the others, but so what? That was just coincidence. Nothing to worry about. It was not like Lance was doing it on purpose. 

When he came back to himself, he was no longer staring at Alvina’s back. Instead, Lance found himself watching Keith as he threw his head back, laughing at something Hunk had said. He let his eyes wander over the boy’s face, holding back the urge to groan in frustration.

But again, that was just natural. You’re thinking about someone, you look at them. It’s like, instinct or something, Lance was sure.

Just then, Keith decided to look in his direction. Lance took an uneven breath, looking away as fast as he possibly could. His face felt warmer as he repeated to himself, over and over again: everything is fine. Normal. Nothing has changed, no need to be embarrassed. So why did he feel so anxious and nervous all of a sudden? 

Turning around, Lance decided to search for Shiro and Allura. Maybe if he said he didn’t feel well they would let him go back to the castle earlier. For some reason, he didn’t feel like partying anymore.

* * *

 

Lance spent the last two hours either walking anxiously around his room or laying in bed, staring angrily at the ceiling. He felt grateful for Shiro, though. He let Lance come back to the castle without too much questioning, and even offered to get someone to go with him. Lance assured him that there was no need and that, yes, he was okay, and no, there was nothing to worry about. 

He was just having a weird night, no big deal. 

Lance sighed, sitting up on the bed. He didn’t understand why all that nonsense talk about Keith had affected him so much, even less why he was wasting his time locked up in his room when he could have been having fun with his friends. 

The team was probably back by now and Lance felt like the biggest moron in the universe. 

A very hungry moron, by the way. He left the party way too early and, sadly, did not get to enjoy all the weird food they served.

He sighed again, finally getting completely up from the bed and heading for the door. As it slid open, Lance saw a pair of red and white boots standing right in front of him. 

What…? 

He looked up and almost tripped over his own feet as he took a step back, eyes wide. 

“K-Keith?”

Keith was standing in front of Lance’s door, a little wide eyed too, h mouth parted slightly, holding some kind of box in his hands. Were his cheeks a little pink? Nah, Lance was probably imagining things.

“...Lance.”

Lance waited for a few seconds, but Keith just kept staring at him, like he wasn’t expecting to see him in his own damn room. What the fuck?

“Do you need something?” he asked slowly, a little uncertain.

Keith seemed to come back to himself then, shaking his head a little. “No, uh, I just-- Shiro said you weren’t feeling well?”

He looked a little uncertain, transferring his weight from a foot to another, not looking Lance in the eye. Lance blinked.

“Oh. I… I guess I’m fine now?” he frowned, tilting his head to the left.

Keith raised his eyebrows at him, not looking convinced. “...Oh.”

The awkward silence stretched, enough to make Lance uncomfortable. It was not his fault, honestly, Keith never had shown up before knocking on his door. It felt… weird. He didn’t understand why Keith, of all people, would come looking for him. Like, the guy didn’t even like him! Keith always acted like he was so cool and better than Lance, why would he bother to check on him?

Lance narrowed his eyes.

“Why, were you worried about me or something?” he ask, raising his eyebrows with a smirk. Keith looked away and didn’t respond. It was supposed to be just some casual teasing, to lighten up the mood, but the air between them felt weirdly serious. Lance cleared his throat. “Why are you really here, Keith?”

He hoped Keith wouldn’t notice how his voice came out a little too soft.

Keith was quiet for a moment. “What were you feeling?”

“Uh?”

“Shiro said you weren’t feeling well,” he repeated, raising his eyes to meet Lance's, “but he didn’t say what exactly you were feeling, so…”  

Lance stared at him in confusion.

“That’s… That’s why you’re here?” he asked, incredulously, maybe louder than necessary. Of course Keith wasn’t actually worried about him. Lance felt stupid for even letting himself entertain the possibility. “Did you seriously come all the way over here just because you were curious?”

Lance should be offended, really. Keith probably just wanted to make fun of him, he’d bet. "Oh, haha, Lance missed the best party ever! What an idiot!", he was probably thinking. Was he expecting to see Lance weak and vulnerable? Ha! Not today, buddy.

Keith rolled his eyes “Lance, my bedroom is literally next door.”

Yeah, okay. There was that.

“And you didn’t answer me,” he continued, staring at Lance with a ferocity that only Keith had in his eyes. It was like he could steal the information he wanted from Lance with determination alone.

It was kinda… cute?

Nope. Not going there.

“I already said, I’m fine now.” Lance retorted, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He knew deep down he was being overly defensive, but he couldn’t help it. Keith hated his guts. He _had_ to be defensive. “Why do you care, anyway?”

Keith suddenly looked very flustered, gesturing wildly with his free hand. “Why? Because I li-- we are a team! Voltron, I mean, it could affect the team! If… If you had space flu or something!”

Lance tried not to feel disappointed. Again. Maybe, just maybe, there was a small part of him that wanted to believe Keith cared about him. But he was just thinking about Voltron, of course. The team. He should’ve known that.

“...I don’t. Have space flu, that is.”

Keith sighed.

“That’s… good. I guess.” He muttered, not quite meeting his eyes. He cleared his throat. “You seem a little weird, though. I mean, I just thought you’d be happier after what happened tonight, that’s it.”

Lance tipped his head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, with that alien girl,” he paused, waiting for a reaction from Lance that never came. Keith raised his eyebrows at him, looking a little annoyed. “The one that kissed you?”

Lance’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, right!” he exclaimed. How could he forget that? A smirk spread through his face. “She did that, didn’t she? Ha.”

Keith snorted, rolling his eyes.  “And there he is. At least I know you’re fine now.”

Lance smiled smugly. “Well, I did tell you so.”

For a second, Keith only stared at him. There was an oddly looking half smile on his face, like he was trying to hide it with annoyance, but failing. Maybe Lance was just reading into things, but he looked almost fond. Lance opened his mouth, he wanted to say something, break the silence, figure out what was this tension between them about. But before he could think of anything good enough to say that could express the way he was feeling, Keith shook his head and the moment was gone.  

“Yeah, whatever, I’m going to sleep. Night, Lance,” he said, turning to his room without waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, yeah.” Lance stood there for a moment, a frustrated sigh leaving his lips. Then, he turned to the opposite direction Keith was heading, stomach starting to hurt. “Night, Keith,” he whispered to no one.

After that conversation, Lance didn’t feel so moody anymore. Yeah, there was a part of him (that he was trying very hard to suppress, thank you very much) that was still kind of mad that Keith only cared about him as a paladin and he probably would never care about how Lance felt if his wellbeing wasn’t necessary to form Voltron. But there was also that weird moment before Keith left. The silence between them, the way their eyes connected… He didn't want to admit it, but it all felt so undeniably intimate. It made Lance feel like maybe ALvina wasn’t imagining things, maybe there was a connection there.

He felt weirdly warm thinking about this. Probably a sign that he shouldn’t be thinking weird, dumb stuff.

Keith was right about one thing, though. Lance should be happy. He had gotten a kiss! On the cheek! From a cute alien! After all, that was not something that happened everyday. Sadly.

Lance really had to give Keith credit for reminding him of that and, consequently, cheering him up. That, of course, didn’t mean he liked Keith now. Yeah, talking to Keith had actually helped him lighten up a little bit, but Lance was still convinced it was his fault Alvina lost interest in their conversation. So, yeah, nothing had really changed.

He finally reached the kitchen, walking into the room only to find the usual scenario of Pidge typing on what he thought was a small computer with Hunk trying to see behind her back.

“Hey, Lance,” Hunk immediately greeted him with a big smile. “I brought you back some of the food from the ceremony, ‘cause I saw you leaving without eating anything. Not healthy, man.”

Lance features softened. It was nice to know Hunk had his back, always.

“Thanks, buddy,” he grabbed the food and brought it to the table. “Won’t happen again.”

“Yeah, it better not,” Hunk yawned loudly and tapped his shoulder as he made his way to the door. “God, I’m tired. Gotta get some shut-eye. Night, guys.”

“Good night, Hunk,” Pidge answered, without moving her eyes from the screen. As soon as they were left alone, thought, she raised her eyes to stare right into Lance’s.

Oh, no. Scary Pidge was at it again.

“...What?” 

“So, Keith, huh?”

Lance looked away, ignoring the warmth raising up to his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, not looking up from his food and fitting a huge spoon in his mouth to look occupied.

“Hum…” Pidge hummed, looking back to her computer innocently. “So you haven’t noticed it yet?”

At that, Lance stopped eating, eyeing his friend suspiciously.

“Noticed what?”

Pidge smirked, but didn’t look up. The little devil knew she had gotten his attention. Ugh.   

“Come on, Lance. You can’t be that oblivious,” she said, shutting her laptop and finally looking him in the eye. “Tell me, what happened every time you tried to flirt with a girl since you got here?”  

Ouch. Lance frowned.

“Hey,” he complained. “No need to add salt to the wound, Pidge.”

“I’m not calling you unlikeable, dumbass.” She rolled her eyes, but there was a fond smile on her face. “You know that’s not the problem.”

Lance didn’t. Or, at least, he questioned it sometimes. But it was nice to hear Pidge praise him, in her own way. A small smile began forming on his face.

“Now, answer me. What happened?”

Lance had to stop and think to remember what was the question in the first place.

“Uh, well… They rejected me?” He questioned, a little uncertain. Lance had no idea where Pidge was trying to go with that conversation if not to humiliate him. But, well, he trusted her.

“...Okay,” she squeezed her eyes, as if she could get the right answer out of him with just the force of her mind. Thinking about it, maybe she could? “And why is that?”

“They didn’t like me enough, I guess.” He shrugged, pretending that didn't affect him at all. Of course, Pidge didn’t fall for that.

“Wrong answer,” she said, simply. “Try again.”

Lance frowned. If that was not it, then what?

“C’mon, Lance, you’re a smart guy,” she said, leaning closer to him on the table. “Can’t you think of one factor, someone maybe, who was present during all those rejections?”

Lance’s eyes widened, mouth hanging open.

Oh. My. God.  

That was it, of course! He had the answer! How could he have not seen it before? The revelation seemed so obvious now.

“It’s Keith!” he practically screamed, pointing a finger in Pidge’s direction with certainty. A small smile appeared in the girl’s face in anticipation. “He’s been cockblocking me!”

The smile disappeared from Pidge’s face and a look of absolute frustration appeared in its place.

“No, you idiot!” she groaned, throwing her head back. “You’ve been self sabotaging because you have a crush on Keith!”

… What the fuck?

“You- you’re joking right?” Lance chuckled nervously, eyes wide in panic. What was happening? “I’m not- That’s- It doesn’t even-- No!”

He was so shocked by Pidge’s _insane_ theory he could not even form coherent sentences. Yeah. That was it. He definitely wasn’t flustered.

Pidge only eyed him amused. 

“Oh, Lance…” She sighed, resting her face on her small devilish hands with an evil smile. “I think deep down you already knew that, didn’t you? You’ve been pining so hard that you couldn’t even hide it from the girls you were flirting with. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s kind of disgustingly cute, y’know?”

At that point, Lance was just gaping like a fish. His face had gone completely red and he couldn’t even think of words to defend himself. So, before he could incriminate himself even more, he stood up and pointed at Pidge with a shaking finger.

“No,” he said, walking backwards to the closest exit. “Just- No. Nope.”

Then he turned away and practically ran out of the room, leaving his food behind and ignoring the laugher that followed him.

Pidge was wrong anyway. Wasn’t she? Of course she was. Except, Pidge wasn’t usually wrong, Lance knew that. So, what the fuck?

Lance threw himself in his bed as soon as he was in the safety of his own bedroom. He thought back to Alvina. The whole talk about connection, about his attention not being on her… He had to admit that she wasn’t completely wrong. Lance had been paying attention to Keith, even before he approached. But it was only because Lance was annoyed at his grumpy face! Right?

It wasn’t pining. It couldn’t be. Could it…?  

Why would Lance like a guy who literally hated his guts? A guy that would pick up fights with him about everything, who had no impulse control, who was so annoyingly good at everything but communication?

… A guy who always had his back. Who put the safety of his team before his own. Who could go from a wild, dangerous thing, to the most soft, caring person in seconds… Oh, fuck.

Maybe, just maybe, Lance had a little crush on Keith.

Yeah.

Fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> please tell me what you think  
> and be nice  
> or i'll cry
> 
> feel free to let me know about any mistakes and keep in mind that i've never written anything in english before, so  
> yeah  
> bye


End file.
